Ten Favorite Metro Phoenix Cookie Shops

For the last few years, the mighty cupcake has dominated the dessert world but we haven't forgotten about our old friend, the cookie. We love 'em in all shapes, sizes, colors, and flavors but these nine Valley bakeries (and one restaurant) are churning our some of our favorites. Read on to see who made our list.

La Grande Orange -- This Arcadia hot spot may be best known for their awesome sandwiches and crave-worthy pizzas but we have a pretty good feeling that their cookies are going to become as legendary as the rest of their eats. These monster-sized cookies are as big as your face (almost), weigh a little more than half a pound, and are packed with big chocolate chips and coarse sea salt or big peanut butter flavor. Plan on splitting one of these beasts with a large group or people or just munch on it slowly for a day or two. Just don't try and eat the whole thing in one sitting; you'll regret it -- trust us, we've tried.

Shannon Armour

Barb's Bakery -- The folks at Barb's bake up everything from exquisite wedding cakes to mini cheesecakes, sparkling cupcakes, and flaky danish but one of our favorite treats from this central Phoenix bakery is a colorful iced sugar cookie. The just-sweet-enough vanilla cookies are cut into various shapes to match the season and then iced with bright pinks, reds, and yellows. (And they'll take custom orders -- over the years we've asked for everything from Elmo to an entire alphabet.) We may stop for a dozen donuts in the morning or a six pack of party cupcakes on the way home, but we have never,ever left Barb's without one of these treats for ourselves.

Churn -- Postino's cousin Churn on Camelback and Central bakes up several kinds of insanely soft cookies including tangy molasses, oatmeal, double chocolate chocolate chip, and (our not-so-secret favorite) snickerdoodle for their adorable little ice cream and candy shop. Eat the super soft and chewy cookies alone or sandwich them together with a scoop of Churn's out-of-this-world good ice cream. We love every combination but we can never resist a scoop of creamy vanilla between two cinnamon-y snickerdoodles.

Shannon Armour

Beaver Choice -- The Valley's only Swedish restaurant (Ikea doesn't count) not only serves up our favorite meatballs, poach salmon, and schnitzels but they also have a stash of our favorite extra light and crispy Scandinavian sandwich cookies simply called Havrekniplekaker, or Beaver Cookies for short. The lacey oat cookies are baked extra thin and then sandwiched together with a light shmear of creamy vanilla icing. And, just like the restaurant, you won't find anything quite like it anywhere else in town.

The Coffee Shop -- The team of bakers at Gilbert's Coffee Shop at Agritopia are famous for their Cupcake Wars winning cupcakes but they also make other goods, including some pretty amazing cookies. Pair a soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie with one of the shop's sweet blended coffee drinks for an afternoon pick-me-up or grab a tangy peanut butter cookie and a latte for an after dinner treat. It's always a good time for a cookie, especially when you get to hang out among the trees and greenery at The Coffee Shop.

Sweet Cakes Cafe via Facebook

Sweet Cakes Cafe -- Featured on TLC's list of Top 10 Most Bodacious Bakeries and winner of numerous Valley awards, Downtown Mesa's favorite breakfast cafe, sandwich shop, and bakery whips up giant chewy cookies in more than a dozen different flavors. All of your fresh baked favorites sit patiently in baskets behind the cute counter of this darling cafe just waiting for you to walk in and take a half dozen or so home with with you. Peanut butter M&M, oatmeal chocolate chip, crasin & white chocolate -- each and every cookies is bursting with home baked flavor and tasty ingredients. Go ahead and try them all, you won't be disappointed!

Shannon Armour

Baker Wee -- This little bakery off Thunderbird is the go-to westside spot for epic wedding and birthday cakes of all shapes and sizes but behind one of their many counters are trays of brightly colored butter cookies and chocolate filled thumbprint cookies. These cookies literally melt in your mouth but are still light and airy. The bakery also makes chewy chocolate chip, oatmeal, and peanut butter cookies but we usually leave the shop with a half pound of the buttery sprinkled variety.

Shannon Armour

Essence Bakery -- Eugenia Theodosopoulos and her team churn out an impressive lineup of sweet treats every day out of their Tempe bakery and cafe. We are partial to the perfectly chewy French macarons and powered sugar coated Mexican wedding cookies. The macarons come in a rainbow of flavors like lemon, chocolate, grapefruit, and caramel and even pumpkin in the fall months. The little Mexican wedding cookies are tiny balls of bite-sized pecan heaven that trump even our own mother's version (sorry, Mom!).

Shannon Armour

Tammie Coe -- Before master Phoenix cake decorator Tammie Coe was Phoenix-famous for her use of brightly colored fondant, she was pumping out colorful glazed sugar cookies that won our hearts with their tangy soft centers and crisp iced exteriors. For years we wouldn't budge from our trusty favorites but at some point we moved on and tried her giant chocolate MJ cookie, and then the apple oatmeal and the butterscotch -- each cookie was just as good as the one before and pretty soon we were ordering a cookie with every sandwich from her cafe on Roosevelt. If you can't make it to her Phoenix shops, you can also pick up her delicious cookies at AJ's and Whole Foods markets across town.

Shannon Armour

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Urban Cookies -- Even with the row of beautiful cupcakes that line the glass case of Phoenix's OG cookie shop, our eyes (and tastebuds) are still drawn to the cookies that rest in the glass jars lining the counter. Made with only the best ingredients around, we can't resist their double salted chocolate chips cookies or the chewy oatmeal cookies filled with organic raisins, almonds, sunflower seeds and spicy cinnamon. The cookies are baked fresh on site and can even be wrapped up in a pretty box with a colorful bow. Follow Urban Cookies on Facebook for special deals (like cookie happy hour) and events.

All our favorites lists also are available on our Best Of app -- see it in action here.